NOT MY BEST DAY ON THE ALLOTMENT / ALLOTMENT GARDENING UK

Oh my gosh, guys. This morning the front of my hair was so greasy. I washed it and then blow-dried it and now it's just gone super frizzy. I don't know what this haircut is. I just don't know what it is. I don't know what to do with it. I don't know how to style it or anything. I mean, it's just giving hat hair. It's giving hat hair all the time. Anyway, how are you all doing? Welcome back to my a lotment diaries. For you, it's just been a couple of days. Is that parakeet? Oh, it's loads of them. For you, it's been a couple of days. Um, for me, it's been about a week since I've last been here just because the weather has been terrible. It's been raining a lot and I've just had other things to do to be honest. And to be honest with you, at this time of year, the a lotment plot is sort of quieter. It's dying back. It's slowing down. There's stuff growing. Yes, there's stuff growing and there's things that need doing, but it's not such a rush as it is in the spring summer. You can afford to kind of leave it for longer periods of time. And so, you know, for me personally, I'm really enjoying because I've done all the hard work. It's all looking good. It's all under control. You know, I've done the winter where I was digging the whole thing out and just spent the whole winter covered in mud. And now I'm kind of reaping the rewards from that. So, I can afford to kind of leave a few days in between coming down and just chill. Just chill and just enjoy it now. Which is what I'm trying to do. I mean, I've just come into my greenhouse. And aside from the fact that it's really wet in here because I've not been here to ventilate it, which is a big mistake in the autumn winter. You must ventilate your green houses. Well, this happens. But aside from that, everything in here is doing really well. Everything is growing amazingly. Sweet peas have gone bonkers. The sweet peas think it's springtime and they are ready to go out. I've pinched these out. I might pinch them out again because they are going crazy. They're going crazy. They're nowhere near ready to go outside. Not till the next spring. So, slow down, guys. Slow down. And then we've popped some things in the ground. We've got spring onions that have grown. As you can see, they've all germinated, doing really well. We've got the radishes behind doing really well. And then behind that, we've got our calib doing great, might I add. Doing great. Really, really happy. I think I think we also have millions of little mini tomato seedlings coming up as well of tomatoes that have dropped on the floor and then I've just covered over with mulch. So I think we're getting tomatoes growing um in November. There you go. Hundreds of them. Hundreds of tomatoes. Definitely not something normal in a garden in November to see hundreds of baby tomato seedlings, but hey ho, there we go. Um, I've had a very exciting delivery to my plot. My lovely, lovely a lotment friend, Emma, um, watched my vlog where I was like, I can't carry this and this is too heavy and I need to get my husband down. And at the weekend, she came down and she delivered something to me that was too heavy for me to do. So, thank you so much. Let me come and show you. It's a cat cage. No, I'm only joking. It's not a cat cage. Please don't cancel me. Um, this is the pallet sort of container thing that I saw on Emma's plot if you remember from a few vlogs ago. And I was like, she's like, "Do you want it?" And I was like, "Yes, but it's just too heavy for me to carry." She's carried it all the way here. And I thought it might make quite a good little compost um thing that's kind of ready, like a readymade compost bin. Oh my god, it's heavy. Oh my god. How did she get this here? Am I just really weak or is everybody else just really strong? Disgust. Oh my gosh. Brilliant. I sort of want it here. Oh my god. It's my exercise for the week. If you couldn't guess from my straining of my voice, it's really heavy. is really well put together and it's very robust. It's going to last. So, my initial thoughts of what to do with this is to line it with like a ground sheet, the whole thing, staple gun, staple gun, staple gun, staple gun, and then stick compost in it. But maybe this could be the finished compost, the one that I s in. So, I could put a great big thing of I'm just freelancing now with my thoughts. I didn't think this before. I'm thinking it now. We're just We're speaking as we're thinking. great big bit of like garden mesh or chicken wire, whatever you call it, over the top and then I could s the compost from here into here and have actual usable compost. That's such a great idea. And it just came from nowhere. Light bulb moment. That is cool, right? And it feels like it's the right size for that. And then I can just shuffle it out into the wheelbarrow, take it on its merry way. Yeah, this is fantastic. This is brilliant. Feel so fortunate to have been given this. I really do. Thank you so much, Emma, from the bottom of my heart. Thank you. This is so exciting. Except it's also come with very tiny baby slugs, which is not very appreciated, especially when they end up on my fingers. Oh no. Get off, mate. Oh my god. Oh, okay. Good news, guys. The calibrize that we planted in here is all still alive. A teeny tiny bit has been munched, but not too much. Not to the point where I'm panicking. No, this is really good. I'm glad I netted it because I do think my biggest enemy would have been the birds. I think the birds would have come down and pecked it to death, which I think is probably what was happening with all the other all the other brassacas. So, I think the net was a good idea. And I'm really happy that they've all survived. And I can hear Einstein. I can hear you. I can hear him chirping away. So, we best feed the birdie before we go any further at all. And also, I have just noticed behind me broccoli is growing. But, it's going to have to wait cuz the bird is demanding food. Everything must wait when the bird demands us food. Everything must wait. Come on then. Come on then. I can hear him but I cannot see him. Normally I sort of catch a glimpse of him out the corner of my eye. Something kind of moves and I think, "Oh, what was that?" And then it was the bird. Yeah. Oh, he's getting noisier. He's coming. There he is. Or is that a leaf? No, that's him. That's him. He's coming. See, I saw a flutter out the corner of my eye and then I thought it was a leaf and it was Einstein. And that's how it goes every time. Come on then. You coming? Come on. Look how many leaves have fallen. A lot. Basically, a lot. Pretty much the entire tree is now bare. I'm pretty sure in my last vlog, which like I said was about five days ago, five, six days ago, I filmed it, this tree had a lot more leaves on it. And now we're at the end. We're at the the end of the leaves. So, I'm going to collect up as many as I can today. And pop them in my compost. This bird is being difficult. He's not coming down. I don't think it's Einstein. I think it's uh one of Einstein's clones. You can have some food. It must be one of his clones. So, while trying to film Einstein, I dropped my vlogging camera in a flipping pond, didn't I? It was the one thing I was really scared I was going to do, and then I just did it because anything that can happen will happen, apparently. Apparently. So, so now it's just completely dead. Look at that. I can hear the water in it, to be fair. I mean, I could dry it out and see if it works again, but looks like I'm I'm going to have to buy a new vlogging camera right before Christmas. Absolutely fantastic. Anyway, we're going to sweep up the leaves, do a few gardening jobs. I'll see what I can film now on the phone. Sorry, guys. That really does feel like a lot of leaves. a lot. I mean, there's a great big pile under there that I've just put this pile onto. I don't recall ever having this many leaves, especially on this plot, which is my sort of original plot. I don't remember having this many leaves full. Maybe the trees just got bigger. Maybe it's as simple as that. But then I've also got all of these leaves over here. Um, which is amazing. Like, I'm not complaining. I love the free leaf mulch, but I just didn't realize I got so much of it. Like, I really just I was really surprised this morning when I got here. It was like walking through thick leaves. Has it always been like this? Have I just not paid attention to my own a lotment? I don't know. Anyway, I'm going to collect some up from the other side, stick them in a compost. It's all good stuff. It's all free and it's all natural material, so I'm happy. Look at these. So cute. I don't know why I find that so cute. I just The thought of a squirrel sitting there eating one of my apples, holding it with two hands. So cute. Right, I've just come in here to regroup for a second after my traumatic mo moment with my camera. Just going to put a new battery in and just see if it's dried out enough to work. It's not doing anything at all now. Oh joy. The joys, the joys, the joys of technology. Completely dead now. Just complete just dead. Oh, we had such fun together. Vloggy camera. I haven't even had this a full year. Can you believe that? I can. Yeah, I've not even had it a year and it's gone. Another one bites the dust. The thing is is when you are an a lotment vlogger or you vlog in your home garden, accidents do happen. And you know me, I like to put my camera in all kinds of places to get interesting shots. So, you know, I'm not too sad about it because I like the way that I film and I like the way the vlogs look. So, we're just going to have to deal with that. I have ordered a new one, by the way, and it's arriving tomorrow. I have contingency plans for these things. I have money put aside for things breaking, so panic over. It's coming tomorrow. Let's just regroup, try and take a deep breath and do some gardening, I think. Um, right. So, we sucked up all the leaves. I want to go and harvest some of that broccoli. Some of it is starting to flower. Let me show you. This is the broccoli that's starting to flower. You see here these little yellow flowers. Aren't they stunningly beautiful? And the pollinators love them. So each of these little green little green things that we eat is a flower bud and it opens to these gorgeous yellow flowers and basically the whole thing will just flower. And this one here, I'm just going to leave to flower now because it's started to already. So, I'll be able to show you as it flowers. But all of these, all of these little green buds will open to those lovely yellow flowers. And it's a beautiful display. And like I said, the pollinators, they just seem to love brassacica flowers. So, if you can allow a few to flower, do do it, I would say. I can see this one here starting to want to flower. So, I'm going to chop this one and have it. I don't think it's gone too far yet. too far the flowering way. Got a little bit down here as well. Not sure what that I mean that could just be frost damage. I think that's edible. I can see some down here too. I'm going to take that cuz that really is fine. Oh yes. I love broccoli. This bit here looks lovely. Oh, doesn't it lovely? It's covered in bugs. Oh, it's covered in bugs. I didn't see them. Right. Okay. We'll have to investigate that more in a second. This bit looks all right, though. Have a bit. Gray little aphid things clustered around the just around that one there. Can you see them? Oh, they're not nice looking. Especially when they're all clambering over each other like that. It's like World War Zed. World War Zed but for bugs. I don't like that, you know. I don't think I'm going to eat that. I think even if I wash it, I'll just be No, I'm I'm a bit traumatized by them. I think I'm just going to leave them. It's funny how people have sort of different levels of hate towards bugs. Some people can cope with all of them and like all the bugs. Some people are like, "Oh, some bugs are okay, like ladybirds and snails, um, and bumblebees." I mean, for me, that's me, basically. Some bugs are okay. And then other bugs I just can't seem to handle. But anything gray that kind of clamber over each other like that, I just can't handle. Earwigs, um, stag beetles, wasps, what else don't I like? Spiders, obviously, that's the big one, isn't it? Worms. I'm not a massive fan of worms. Wood lice. Sometimes I'm okay with wood lice. Sometimes I'm not. But yeah, I just have like little different levels of sort of bug tolerance. It should be like a scale on the screen right now. Where is your level of bug tolerance? What kind of bugs can you tolerate? Cuz I think there are different levels, aren't there? Aren't there? Am I just talking rubbish? Anyway, got some broccoli. Not tons of it. But um it is really nice fresh like this and organic and it is delicious. So I'll be eating this for my lunch. All right, let's see if these radishes are finally ready to to harvest. No, they're not. And nowhere near. Oh, I'm so surprised. Are they ever going to be ready? They're so big and bushy. They're such big and bushy plants. They look absolutely like the healthiest thing growing at the moment, to be fair, but the radishes are nowhere near ready. That's really quite surprising. I really expected to see some little balls of radish. Also, the chard that I picked and planted here has survived. It's died back a teeny tiny bit. And what I mean is the leaves have gone a little bit flippy floppy, but actually it's it's thriving. Look, it's like upright. The chard looks amazing. It's like it was born to be in my plot. So, I'm really really happy with that plant. No radishes for me today. That's a little bit annoying, but hey ho. All right. Onwards and upwards. Upwards and onwards. Whatever. I'm going to have to leave the vlog there because it's very hard for me to film on this phone. Though, whenever this does happen, and this is not the first time this has happened, and I've had to switch to my phone, I do get a lot of comments from people saying the quality is better on the phone and that they actually prefer it. I think it's more vibrant on the phone and I don't quite know how to make my camera more vibrant. It's something I need to work on, but oh, the wind is coming. So, the weather did say that it's going to get windy as well. So, that's another reason I have to leave a bit earlier. And yeah, I think next time I come, I'll work on that box that Emma's very kindly given to me. Um, and I will I've got some staples now, so I'll be able to staple it all all up and make a new compost thing, which I think would be an excellent idea. I'm also going to do some tidying, some weeding. Um, I'm going to thin out some of these crops down here. And I think I should probably close these windows cuz it's I feel like it's going to get really windy. I think I'd rather risk it being a bit wet in here and um humid than blowing away. Let's get this closed. So, we'll have to return in a couple of days with my new camera and get all those jobs done. Just a really small snippet of the a lotment life today. Hope you've enjoyed watching it. And that's it. I'll stop waffling now and I'll see you again on Friday. See you Friday, guys. Thanks for watching. Bye.